Knight Girl
by HO0T HO0T
Summary: Max disguised as a man is the best fighter in the land but she has a secret. Lisa & Bridget are Princesses and are invited to Fangs Kingdom for a ball, where he is supposed to find a wife. Max is their (the princesses and queen Val's) bodyguard and goes with them. There she meets the pyro twins and the silent lady's man, Fang. How will she handle being both a Knight and maid?
1. Chapter 1

**_K_****_n_****_i_****_g_****_h_****_t_****_G_****_i_****_r_****_l_**

Chapter #1: Meeting Prince Fang and 'The Knight'

**Prince Nicholas (Fang) POV**

As the sun hung high in the sky a grand carriage rolled along the road in the distance coming in the direction of the palace.

It was a peaceful, sunny, quiet morn... "James! Zephyr! GET HERE NOW!" ...ing. Well it was. Ugh, I wonder what the twins have done to upset the maids _THIS_ time.

Oh whoops I guess you're wondering who the hell the twins and I are. Well the twins are Prince James William and prince Zephyr George; they are the little annoying brothers that I am unfortunately stuck with. Yeah, yeah I known what I have to be for them to be my little brothers, I am Prince Nicholas, first in line for the throne. I have my mum's looks, with my black hair and onyx eyes that are apparently gorgeous if you are one to believe in gossiping maids and tanned olive skin. I have an eight pack for all my training that I do and I am quite fit, which unfortunately means that girls are always after me, I mean I am a guy and I like the attention but not constantly, and besides if I wanted I could get any girl that I set my sights on. I'm 6'2 which is tall but my father is 6'1 and so was his father. I am also a bit of a quiet person I rarely talk, well what's the point when all the people talk about is politics and money and... Marriage, ugh going to have to do that soon.

Anyway, James or Iggy is 17 years old and takes after father. He is pale, pale strawberry blonde hair, fair skin, and milky blue eyes. He's also quite tall for his age at 6'1 feet tall and thin. He is immature and can make anything explode. It can actually be really cool, except when he puts a stink bomb in my room. He's loud and obnoxious and often talks in third person which can be funny sometimes but not ALL of the time. He seems to have a slight crush on one of his maids (yes his, she was assigned to clean his room and do his laundry and stuff) Ella. She's pretty with brown hair and large hazel eyes, with freckles. Ella's short but thin and quite fir from running after Iggy all the time.

Zephyr or Gazzy as he is called for obvious reasons is similar to Iggy just not as thin. Blonde hair and blue eyes, although his aren't nearly as light as Iggy's are. He's 17 as well but only a few minutes younger than Iggy and only an inch shorter. And is also a pyro and it usually causes things like this to happen. Gazzy can mimic anyone's voice even after only hearing it a couple of times. Gazzy has a huge crush on his maid (she was assigned his room when she started working here, poor girl) Monique, or Nudge as I've heard she likes to be called. She has mocha coloured skin, with dark curly hair, with big brown eyes and she's also fit from all the running that she does. She also talks a lot!

Well back to the present time the twins have probably just blown something up to attract the attention of the maids. Not so sure if that's the BEST way to get a girls attention but it seems to be working. They actually are paying close attention to the twins. And by "they", I mean their maids Monique and Ella. They have been doing thing for a while now, they know not to cause too much damage to the castle but sometimes things get taken a bit too far. That meant blowing giant holes in the palace walls and putting craters in the middle of the courtroom right before the meeting of the Kingdoms.

Oh well, at least it will take the attention away from me and my upcoming marriage ball grrrrrr. Yes I growled, you would too if you had to marry some snobby girl by your 21st birthday. I know it's a long time, two years in fact but still. Well that and the fact that I have to wear the most tight, itchy clothes in history. The reason that this would be horrible for me is because, the clothes I wear are slightly loose _BLACK_ not red not orange or yellow, black, but apparently that's not okay. And my parents expect me to get someone to marry me with these... Ha ha... Not happening.

My parents are desperate though. They're even inviting the princesses of the land to our kingdom for a ball. Yippee. I am doomed, hordes of snobby princesses swarming to get my attention and money and the power that comes with it. Ugh I am hoping that if I have to get married I can find a girl who likes me and not necessarily my money and title. God that makes me sound like a girl. *shudder of horror*

As well as the ball, we are going to host some if mothers friends, King and Queen of The Kingdom of Darkness. The queen and her two daughters as well as their ladies in waiting and personal body guard-knight that the queen insisted would come. Well I guess we'll have to make room for them (the servants).

I heard that the Knight is the best fighter in all the kingdoms that he can fight with almost any weapons that he is given; even I am not that good. I could beat him in hand to hand combat though; after all I have been trained by the best tutors that money can buy all if my life. Not bragging or anything, but I have ended up besting all of them and sometimes some of them gang up and I have come out of that victorious. I heard that they all had the same teacher after He had bested all of them together! I want to be that good one day, I can't believe one MAN, went up against 30 masters of fighting. I always asked the masters who _their_ master was but they always smiled a reminiscing sort of smile, like they were remembering both embarrassing and good times, but they would shake their heads and say "You will meet them one day, and when you do, you shall kneel before them and want to know all of their secrets, but you will only find out a fraction. I was like you and asked this question and their reply was, the masters of you before me and Mother Nature. I never understood why they said that and I probably never will. My Master was something special" And with that, they would leave me wondering what did I have to do to know what the Master of Fight Masters know?

All I know about the Knight is that his fighting is unparalleled by anyone. My guess is he was taught by my tutors Master and that the Knight found got a few more secrets of fighting them my tutors ever did. I should ask the Knight if he would spar with me while hey stay, it would be a welcomed challenge. Beating everyone who challenges me is a bore now, only Iggy and Gazzy really put up a fight. Huh okay I will, it will also serve as a distraction from the two princesses, well escape from them, HA-HA-HA good excuse. I want to ask him why The Knight and does he have any other names? I mean sure he's good but he will only be the best until he meets me I win our fight, because that's just how good I am.

The reason I am so good though is because I was bored and so I practiced everything I was taught to perfection. I mean I had the twins but they always paired up and I was alone. I didn't like any if the servants until a guy named Dylan showed up as a stable boy. He and I were close but not really close, we talked and sometimes sparred but I always came out victorious. I think he got sick of it because one day he grew distant and I only saw him when I went riding. I would say hello and he would say hello back but it was obviously only because he had to, he's also changed a lot. He soon rose through the ranks and became a knight, he was one of the best there in our army, and I personally think he's a captain now, still too young to become a general but the way he's going, I am sure he'll get there soon. I became even quieter and more withdrawn, but Iggy and Gazzy kept me from complete emo-ness. I have to thank them for that.

Speaking of the visitors, I think I heard the arrival trumpet. Must be them in the carriage that I saw from my window earlier. They have a day to arrive still, I wonder…. Oh we'll I should give them something to remember, being so polite and surrounded by the same people is getting boring. Also I don't want everyone in the kingdom to think I am also a snob I mean, I want to be respected one day, and I also want to be friend The Knight.

**Knight/maid Max POV**

Ugh I am not a morning person; wake me up before I am ready to be woken up... And you are stuck with and angry max all day. At least, that is, if you don't wake me with the smell of food cooling. Grrrrrr... Time to feed the beast, it will probably be the only meal I have today. Oh well, I'll make sure to eat plenty, and maybe steal some for the road. I found out just now that... Your probably wondering who 'I' is.

The name is Max NOT Maxine, Max. If you call me by any other name I will kick you into next week. And I can. Any way I'm 17(my birthday is coming up soon), I am tall for a girl my age, 5'9 actually, and I am athletically built, so strong but thin, so I can be agile and fast as well as pack a punch. I have long light brown hair, reaches my waist when let out, with natural blonde highlights from training in the sun all of the time. My eyes are the colour of un-barfed chocolate, lucky me. I have high cheek bones and medium sized lips so not thin or full in between. I have long eye lashes and long legs (or so I am told constantly by my best and only friend Angel) and a small six pack. I also have the ultra- death glare (Tm), I have made grown men cry with it and won all my stare downs, some people take longer than others to break but honestly not that long at all.

Angel is basically like a daughter to me, weird I know but, she's only 10 and she has these big blue eyes that ,when put into Bambi eye mode, could turn the hardest hearts soft ( I should know, I have experienced it first hand on multiple occasions ). She's got a thin build and is slightly taller than most girls her age. Angel's blonde hair is curly and light and bounces around her head like a halo. She is very intuitive and it often seems like she can read minds. She loves clothes and gossip and keeps e filled in on the goings on of the kingdoms.

She's my baby and if anyone hurt her I would make sure they never came back to any of the kingdoms in the present, although if, and I mean IF they survive, they may turn up in the distant future. And the scary thing is that I wouldn't have to try too hard to do it. I mean if you believe that I am the best fighter in the land, but hey I am a girl, how can I be the best fighter? Oi! All of you who ask that question, you are sexist and SHOULD be booted into next week.

Anyway back to what I found out... I just found out that the Queen Clair of the Kingdom of Midnight (I know they all have strange names), my Queen's, Queen Valerie, friend, has invited her and Princess Lisa and Princess Bridget to stay with them until Prince Fang's (cool name) ball. The latest news is that he is looking for a bride and it's got Lisa and Bridget into clothes makeup jewellery frenzy. They are complaining about their lack of clothes (like they didn't have enough clothes for entire army of fashionistas) saying that they need more of this and that and "but she has this why can't I?" It's driving the entire palace insane. Oh well, personally I have no trouble with clothes I only wear one type of outfit when in public and that's my black fight suit.

My fight suit is amazing if I do say so myself (considering I made it). It's completely black and it has thick leather padding on the back ( it goes over my butt, but its flexible I can still sit), on the front, from my collar bone, down to my hip bones and around my sides to protect them as well, aren't I smart? It also has a thinner layer on my thighs leaving the rest of my legs covered in the stretchy cloth. It wraps around my feet and also has soft leather but toughened so I can walk without boots which restrict the amount of hold I can get on rocks trees walls roofs etc. The cloth continues up and around my head, leaving only my eyes showing, the part around my mouth is thinner so that I can breathe. And as well as around my ears so I can still hear. The reason I need this mask is so no-one knows who I am. The reason they can't know is mega secret but I'm going to tell you...

I am a princess as well, Princess Maximum of the Kingdom of Darkness (the inspiration for my outfit). I am actually first in line for the throne and will get to rule over all of the land but I don't want to, so I became Maxine the queen's lady in waiting. Nobody suspects because my mum, the queen if you hadn't figured that out, is very smart and makes sure I never have to appear at the same time as much as humanly possible.

She figured out as soon as I could walk that I wasn't going to be a princess princess. So she didn't tell anyone that I was hers, they thought she had a miscarriage and that I was some servants daughter. I "moved "when I turned 5, and then I started my training.

At first I was taught by the masters that lasted for a few years, until I wore them out with my attitude and hunger for more fighting knowledge. I finished my training faster than anyone expected and when I turned 9, I started training myself, setting up everything, practicing everything that I knew to perfection and then made things up and eventually made up my own style.

By the age of 15 I had bested all of the current masters of all styles of hand to hand combat and armed battles. I then was asked to start teaching them when it became apparent that I knew so much more, that was discovered after most of them ganged up on me and I won, not bragging but it was only 20 of the masters, I would have had more of a struggle with all 30 of them. The only thing was I was dressed as a boy with a short haircut and loose clothes I passed as a small teen, not as me Princess Max. It irritated me to no end when they talked bad about women, but other than that; being free and living the life of a man was nice.

Well I do have the maid outfit if I don't want to wear my black one... But I usually don't, why you may ask? It's because the maid's outfit is a... DRESS! No way is anyone ever going to get me into one of those frilly, pink, poufy, sparkly, deadly things.

Oh we'll now that you know all about me. I should be going, I am the royals personal body guard it means where they go outside the palace, and I go. It's actually fun getting to go to the other kingdoms but not have to wear a frilly pink dress and high heels, and giggle and flirt and sit there looking pretty and like you have no idea what's going on, that you're some pretty little doll that can't think for herself. That's never going to happen if I can help it.

"Knight, you need to come to the stables they're ready to go... Almost! Good luck mate they're excited over the ball and meeting the prince, so I suggest you block your sensitive ears" Ari said clamping me in the back. Ari is like a brother. To 'knight' yeah that's my name when I'm in the suit, which is most of the time. But we're close, I have given Jim a few tips on fighting and he thought me how to take care of my horse properly, see Ari is a stable hand, well was one until he got knighted and was moved to the army. He still works in the stables but not full time, I miss seeing him a lot, but am relieved I hate lying to him, besides Angel he's my best friend but I just can't tell him. That would put an end to my freedom and respect, to be replaced with rules and scorn. Uh I think not, but hey Ari won't find out and if he does, he'll understand… I hope.

"I'm coming; I'm coming, hold your horses!" I yell in a deep, gruff voice (hey I can't go talking in a higher pitched voice now can I?). "Oh hardy ha: like I haven't heard that one a million times before, now get you lazy butt out here before the princesses come and start their morning yelling at you for being late!" Ari yelled the last part knowing that I hated the high pitched yelling, it was a wonder my ears were still this sensitive after living with them for years. I flicked my mask and tied it securely in a knot sequence I taught myself and sprinted out the door, pausing to hug Angel and slip her an extra apple "Keep that hidden and eat it if you really need it" I whisper yelled as I grabbed my many weapons and satchel and dragging her out the door with me, grabbing her shoes and carrying her to the carriage. Her laughter filled the stables and made me smile under my mask as I dumped her on the servant's carriage and helped her with her shoes. Oh, I forgot to say that she's the Queen's ladies in waiting. "Oh Mr _KNIIIIIIIIIIIGHT"_ I hear and just barely suppress a groan; the Red Haired Wonders had arrived with the Queen. Finally!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter #2: The Journey there and an interesting introduction.**

**Max POV**

I saddled my horse, Blaze, a pure black Arabian; he was my favourite and nobody else but Ari and I were able to ride him. Blaze had my stubborn personality and wouldn't let the other knights ride him and then I showed up, and he walked straight to me while I was eating my apple, after looking into his eyes I just couldn't not give it to him, and that's what started our beautiful friendship. Oh and the only reason Ari could ride him was because he was the one who showed me how to look after Blaze in the first place.

Anyway getting back to the present, I finished saddling Blaze and put his reins on, Blaze always struggled when I put the bit in his mouth so most of the time I left it out and controlled him with my legs. He trusted me and responded to my commands so I was comfortable with leaving it out today. I saw that The Queen and the princesses had arrived. The Queen Looed regal in her gown, it was dark grey with white lace on the hem lines. Her chocolate hair drawn back in a chignon that sat and the nape of her neck and a few loose curls framed her heart shaped face. She had a small smile on her face when she turned to look at me; I nodded to her in recognition and swung onto my saddle. I saw Bridget and Lisa looking at me, they seemed to be checking me out… Oh god I hope not, that would be too much. So I turned Blaze around and rode to the front of the carriages and looked ahead.

"Yo! Knight! Hey travel safely and don't get killed this time. Seeing you collapsing from blood loss once is more than enough, alright?" Ari said riding up next to me on his horse, wearing his hunting uniform, dark green shirt with brown pants.

"You're coming with us? I thought that the King of Midnight said only I could come?" I asked, since it was a gesture of good faith that my Queens and the Princesses travelled with only one guard just for precaution of bandits. If we messed that up there could lead to war, maybe that's a bit over the top but…

"Nah I was going out to scout the area, check the traps and bring the cooks something, I just thought I'd stop by to say good luck before I left you with the 'red-haired wonders'" Ari said with a smirk, and turned around to look at the two princesses and smile. They saw this and giggled their annoying high-pitched giggle that made grimace.

"Please don't make them do that! You know I have extra sensitive ears!" I said, giving him a soft punch to the shoulder, well soft in my opinion. Apparently my versions of a soft punch, leads to Ari almost toppling form his saddle and disrupting the horses.

"Oi, I didn't realise that it would affect you form over here! And that hurt, you shouldn't hit people, you know that the power in your punch is different to _normal_ people" He said grumbling as he righted himself and calmed down his chestnut Arabian, Cocoa. I shrugged my shoulders and smirked beneath my mask, and laughed a little when Cocoa still wouldn't calm down.

"You'd better stop laughing at me before I make you!" Ari said finally getting Cocoa under control, and then with a flick of his wrists and no backwards glance, Ari was off and out the gates and heading in the direction of the forest, that surrounded the Kingdom of Darkness, Cocoa's hooves thundering across the ground. I watched in slight jealousy as he disappeared through the trees. I would love to be able to ride anywhere, and set my own schedule if there wasn't training. I couldn't though, when I wasn't needed as a body guard, I was a maid and cleaned multiple rooms around the palace. I think I cleaned more than others, just because I once spilled Princess Lisa's food over her, but it wasn't like it was on purpose! Her floor was covered in clothes; I tripped on the dress she wore the previous night, so technically it was her fault, but that didn't mean that I was let off the hook.

Oh well, at least I have more time to be the Knight than Max the lowly servant, more time to explore that way and I get to do pretty much whatever I want and can pass it off as training… Oh the joys of being man, I just wish Angel, and other girls could live like this, just without the double life part, because that's quite tiring.

The trumpet sounded, waking me up from my daydream, alerting me that the gates were open and I was to head off in the direction of the palace. I don't want to be at the front, all my instincts are telling me to go in the middle, so I can protect both of the carriages easier. I have been told to stay at the front by the war General, because it's my duty to protect the Queens and the Princesses first, and then if possible, without risking the royals, go and try and save the servants. Yeah right! I would drag them all to safety, so much easier and quicker, and a guaranty that they would all stay safe after leaving them alone. Call me over protective but I would protect those I love with my life, obviously not just giving it up for them… That would be pointless, because then who would look after them?

I tap Blaze's flanks with my heels and he starts off at a trot, smooth and even strides and I heard the drivers of the carriages flick their reins to get the horse to move. I feel Blaze's muscles ripple beneath my legs as he trots down the road, with me looking around and peering through the forest for any signs of danger. I know that the forest is pretty safe, with a patrol going on all the time, not just for the safety of the palace, but for travellers to and from the palace as well.

The sun is climbing high in the sky after an hour and a half of riding, I can sense that blaze is getting hot and so am I. It's in the height of summer now, and even under the shade of the trees I can feel the heat settling down on us. I spotted a stream up ahead and turned around on Blaze, signalling for him to slow down and pull up beside the first carriage (with the Royals inside).

"I'm going stop here and water Blaze; I think those two need a brake as well" I said in my 'male voice' to the driver and he nodded in agreement.

"And I think that the Ladies will need to stretch their legs and get out of their stuffy carriages as well, we should give them time to refresh themselves" I said to him before swinging my leg around and jumping off Blaze to lead him to the stream. I go behind a tree and pull my mask up over my face so it rested just above my hairline, and splashed some of the cool stream water onto my face.

"That's much better isn't it boy?" I said as I pat him and stroked his mane. I laughed when he seemed to whinny in agreement at me. The breeze was cool on my wet mask, cooling me off more, although only slightly it gets really hot in these black clothes. I turn around to help the Queen and princesses out of the carriage

"Thank you Knight, it was getting stuffy in there" Said Queen Valerie with a smile, see Valerie is cool and doesn't like to talk all proper if she doesn't have to. I bowed slightly to her I had to show respect and all! Then I turned to help the twins or Red Haired Wonders as I call them (in my head of course!)

"Yes, thank you so much Mr Knight!" Lisa and Bridget smiled fluttered there eyelashes at me, I just nodded slightly in reply. Let me tell you that is one scary sight when their faces are covered in a thick layer of makeup, that's seems to be sliding down their faces. I stepped backwards and went to help the girls get out in the servant carriage.

"Hello everyone" I said when I opened the door, Angel was at the front and when she saw me she jumped into my arms. I barely managed to stay up right, but since I'm so awesome I did and twirled her around before placing her down gently.

"Really Ang, the next time you do that, give me some warning please" I said bending down to her level and ruffling her hair. She batted my hands away and I straightened up to help the other girls out.

The Queen and the Red-Haired Wonders ate quietly and drank some tea and then went back into the carriage. The servants were left to pack up and we headed off again. I noticed the trees thickening ahead of us, and I was immediately on high alert. I gripped Blaze's main and swung up onto him, he sensed my urgency and stayed still and did exactly what I told him to. I rode up next to each of the drivers separately and said.

"Hey, I think somebody's watching us, be on the lookout, if I see anything I want you to alert the Ladies inside and tell them to remain silent, okay, Don't ride away, there will be a chance that they have an ambush waiting for us up head I need to protect everyone. Kingdom of Midnight is said to be bandit country so keep your eyes facing forward" They did and everything was going well, then we heard a battle cry from up ahead. Oh no!

**Prince Fang's POV**

"Okay so here's the plan, once they enter the palace, Gazzy will set off a stink bomb to the right of them, and Iggy, you'll set off a paint bomb to the left, making them reek and look horrible, oh and we'll best the Knight" I said smugly looking at our plans.

"What type of stinks do you want to put in the bomb? Like skunk spray or rotten eggs and off meat or stinky swamp" Gazzy asked me, and I thought about it for a while then came up with my decision.

"Well, since we want this to be a day to remember, make it all of them combined, is that possible for you?" I said turning to him and looking into his eyes, watching the mischief swirl in them, oh god they're scary when they do that. "Heck yeah this is going to be so awesome, I can't wait to see their faces. I wonder how the Knight will react? I can't wait, best plan ever Fang!" Gazzy said and I turned to Iggy.

"Can you make the paint splatter all over them and indifferent colours too, sort of like a rainbow effect? I heard that the Knight likes black more than me, so you can't call me emo anymore!" I said and smirked at them.

"Yeah I can, and yes you are still emo Fang, but the Knight is just more emo than you!" Iggy said and they both jumped up and ran to their rooms probably to start their bombs, trying to make them perfect. Oh and if you were wondering why I talked so much then, well that's because it was necessary to tell them my plan… We aren't telepathic you know! I figured out that the carriage I saw this morning wasn't the Darkness Kingdom's, it was my uncles Fredrick and cousin Sam (he and I don't see eye to eye on most things, I'll explain that when it becomes necessary). What joy, oh well I have to be the perfect host and be polite, hey maybe I can ask him to a friendly spar and totally kick is royal behind and knock his ego down a notch. He and I haven't gotten along since we met, the reason being? He's jealous about my fighting skills, the fact that I'm a chick magnet

~~~~~~~~~Time skip when Sam arrives~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hello cousin, I can't say that I am pleased to see you" Sam said sneering. I just nod and glare only slightly, enough to get my obvious disdain about him, without actually saying anything. Yeah that's how much I don't like him, I at least say a couple of words to others, basic one word sentences but that's about it.

"Hello Fredrick you look well, oh and Sam dear, you've grown quite a lot since I last saw you" My mother called to them, and she gave them both a hug (Uncle Freddy is mum's brother).

"Good to see you too little sis, you haven't aged a bit!" Uncle Fredrick said squeezing her back. They had a good relationship with each other as children and it's carried on to their adult years, surprisingly mum can still put up with him. Ha.

"Good to see you Fredrick, I trust you had a pleasant journey?" My dad, King George, **(A.N. I know that's not original but I couldn't think of anything else to put… suggestions?) **said when he reached them, giving Uncle Fredrick a guy hug, you know the one armed ones? Well then there was the typical tour of the palace and the comments on how everyone has grown so much ya da ya da ya da. I was so bored. When are the Royals of Darkness coming?

"Fang… EARTH TO FANG!" Well THAT definitely got my attention. I turned to glare at the person who dared yell at me and found out the group was looking at me expectantly…

"What?" I said and looked around me, making sure that there was nobody behind me. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing at all," My mother said and turned sightly away, they she whipped her head back and yelled "Just the fact that our guards found the carriage driver of the Royals of Darkness and his horse was attached to the carriage and the Royal arrived safely but their servants haven't shown up yet… Oh and the fact that he said that there were at least ten bandits who were heavily armed, that were currently attacking the Knight, the queen is worried sick for them and you have been off in la la land staring out the window clearly not giving a damn!" She finished and spun around and stormed over to Queen Valerie, who promptly threw herself into my mother's arms and held her close. I looked over at the princesses and saw them ogling me, I of course smirked and winked at them, sending them into a fit of giggles. Jeez, girls are all the same, they see a good looking guy and automatically turn into a flirting, giggling mess.

I'll quickly describe the twins to you. Both dull red hair, but bright green eyes. They have pale skin and a very small figure, their waists are tiny. They are wearing short pink dresses with purple lace. The dresses go to about mid-thigh and cling to them and have low neck lines. These girls are what I call desperate, but they're pretty good looking so I might just talk to them, besides it's just another way to annoy Sam… he he he got to love your family…

"Your Majesties, Your Majesties! I saw a carriage emerge from the forest of Darkness!" A palace guard called, Queen Valerie looked up immediately and ran over to the window, in the most un-lady like fashion, and grabbed the spyglass from the guard's hands and focused on the edge of the forest. All of a sudden she cried out in happiness and I knew that she saw them.

'Wow' I thought 'this Queen sure loves her servants, she's really kind hearted for someone that could have been a rich snob…

"They're safe, they're safe… oh thank the heavens… "Queen Valerie repeated "_she's_ safe" I thought I heard, but dismissed the idea quickly, I mean what person would care about one maid so much? With that ridiculous thought squashed I looked over to where Gazzy and Iggy had been standing, and saw them missing… 'oh no!' they're going through with the plan. They can't do that! No, mum will murder us, then I'm sure Queen Valerie will bring us back to kill us again for hurting her servants**! (AN I know fang's OOC here but come on it's not like you would be COMPLETELY fine with your mum about to kill you…)** I've got to stop them, just got to find them first, god help me this will take forever, their traps are always too good for anyone to spot, they even can get me! That's saying something. Back on track brain! Find the trap, stop imminent death. Damn its times like these I really wish I had a normal and average family.

The sound of the trumpets rang through the halls of the palace… that's the arrival trumpet, the doors will open soon and they will all be a stinky rainbow mess and my head will be fed to the hounds. Okay a little over dramatic but I think I am entitled to it after showing basically no emotion most of my life. I raced down the main hall and saw the door start to open, and I just stopped running and waited for the inevitable to happen, the gap between the doors continued to open I jogged over to the rest of my family, who instead of running to the twins room to stop them from attacking the servants just arriving, they had walked straight to the doors to await them.

I stood further to the back next to my mother and blended into the shadows, no one could see me when I did this. I had to, if my mother saw my I would be toast and it would be the OPPOSITE of what I had hoped for. I didn't realise that the servants were important to Queen Valerie; I thought that she would laugh at them and I would be deemed awesome for pranking the Knight. I guess that Iggy and Gazzy missed the memo about the servant being important to the visiting Queen because when they showed up to stand next to our mother they hunched over and tried to cover up their laughter.

The doors were open now and we could see the silhouettes of a group of people. The servants were about to walk through the door, the trip wire would be triggered any minute and then we would be the laughing stock of all the kingdoms when they heard of us getting yelled at by our mother for pulling a prank on the best fighter in the kingdoms and the Queen of Darkness's important servants. They kept coming closer and I saw that the tallest was in the middle of the group, scanning the area, not paying any attention the grand décor of the palace, or the fact that they were about to be in the presence of Royalty from another kingdom, not like the others were, the girls were staring at everything in wonder, including us (and ogling me) oblivious to the fact that they would be screaming in a matter of seconds. Oh god please help me was my last thought before the girls nearest to the trip wire…


	3. Chapter 3

**_Chapter #3:_** **A prank gone wrong**

**_AN: _**Hey guys sorry it took so long! School thinks I can do like 4 assignments at once! I'll try to update at least once a weak, most likely on a Saturday, but maybe Sunday or Friday, it really all depends on my plans, I'll try and warn you if I can't make an upload date J. Keep those reviews coming!

Oh and just to tell you I've changed Queen Valerie to Queen Valencia, I forgot what her name is…. I know shameful but I was writing it late at night so please forgive me!

**_Disclaimer: _** Again I do not own Maximum Ride characters, only the plot…. *sad face*

**Me: **But one day Fang will be mine!

**Fang: ***backs away slowly* this is getting weird I'm just gonna…. Yeah bye!

**Me:** wait come back! I was joking! I have chocolate!

**Fang: ***turns around, flies back, snatches chocolate and reads a book*

**Me:** Okay well here it is Chapter three enjoy!

**_LAST TIME:_**

_Oh god please help me was my last thought before the girls nearest to the trip wire…_

**Fang's POV:**

"STOP" a loud voice said; that made everyone, including me, frozen in their spots. The girls in the front of the group hadn't even touched the trip wire their feet just hovered above it. Then I saw the tallest one move, and now that I had a better look I saw that they were completely covered in black, their hands had gloves and arms were covered in long sleeves, their long legs were covered in more black material and some sort of padding and the chest and stomach area looked the same. The other thing was their head was completely covered, except for eye holes, by a… you guessed it _black_ mask.

'That must be the Knight, that's the only person who could make everyone freeze like that' was what I thought as I watched the figure moved to the front of the group, the girls trying to hold their legs up. Still nobody else in the room had moved they were only using their eyes to look around, you could have heard a pin drop, only the softest of footfalls were heard, from the knight, as he walked over to the front row girls and crouched down.

'No way, that's just not possible he couldn't know that there was a trip wire! The twins always make sure that it's as inconspicuous as possible! So the stories are true, the Knight really is good' I thought as everyone watched as he brushed his fingers along the ground. Then he stood, pushed the girls back a bit and motioned for them to stay still, then he seemed to follow the trigger string along to the side of the door way, and he eventually came across one of the bombs. Iggy and Gazzy stood ridged as he picked it up delicately and took it from its hiding place from on top of the door way, mast of it hidden by the tapestry, only the firing hole was visible and aimed right where the trigger string was. The Knight then placed it gently on the ground in front of the girls and then followed the string in the opposite direction and found the second bomb in the same place as the first (just on the opposite side of the hall way entrance) and gently took it down and walked over to the other one and placed the second bomb down. The Knight scanned the area a few more times before nodding to the girls, they immediately step away and walk over to bow us (the royals) and go stand beside the Queens of Darkness.

The Knight gently picked up both of the bombs and walked over to us. Everyone took a step back; I couldn't though, as he got closer, he looked at Iggy and Gazzy as they stared at the ground sheepishly.

"These belong to you" His voice seemed to grate out as he said that, not even as a question. With a small shake of the head, he turned his attention to me.

'That's impossible! He can't see me when I'm in the shadows! Not even our top guards could' I thought frantically, not showing it through my emotional mask of course, as he moved his hand to his side. 'Oh he thinks that I'm an intruder…' I thought and smirked, wouldn't he be in for a surprise when he pointed a weapon at the heir the throne of Midnight. But instead of going for his sword, faster than I could follow or react to, he had pulled out a dagger and threw it right at me. I thought I was going to die then, I saw my life and the choices I had made up to this one and I thought 'those poor girls, they'll be lost without me…' but I didn't get stabbed straight through the heart, and it wasn't one dagger that he threw. The Knight had thrown four daggers at me, two pinning me to the wall through my shirt and the others through my legs.

"What are you doing Knight? You can't throw daggers around our palace without reason, this is an outrage" My father's voice boomed. The Knight's response was to turn around face my father, stare _straight _into his eyes and hold up his hand, motioning for him to wait. The Knight walked towards me and I struggled to get out, no use, my clothes were firmly wedged against the wall by the daggers. When he was close to me, the Knight used one arm to squash my legs against the wall and the other to rip the daggers out that pinned my legs, and carefully slot them back into their place. He stood up and looked at me with such cold eyes that I, yes I Prince Fang heir to the throne of Midnight emotionless rock, froze at that look and let him rip the other two daggers out, and haul me out of the shadows to stand in front of my parents.

"Nicholas?" My mother and father said incredulously, internally I cringed at their tone, but still kept my face blank as I felt the Knights fist tighten around my shirt collar. "What were you doing there, why were you hiding? Did you know about the bombs?" They both said firing questions at me, but ironically it was the Knight that saved me from big trouble.

"King and Queen of Midnight, forget about this incident, no one was hurt, you don't need the stress of taking care of the consequences of their actions…" he paused and let me go, pulling me back behind him slightly, and whispered to my parents, I tried and failed to hear what he had to say.

"Yes, I do agree with you" My mother and father agreed, and get this, they both SMILED, they barely smile at people they just met! What did the Knight do to my parents? I didn't get time to ponder this before mum said goodbye and guided the group, excluding Iggy, Gazzy and I, away possible to show The Royals their rooms and the servants their living quarters **(AN: is that right?)**. That left me, the knight with Gazzy and Iggy alone in the room except for a few guards and the bombs.

"Uuuuum, ha ha ha, you know that was a joke right, just a laugh, a little welcome to the kingdom?" Gazzy said gulping as the Knight scanned our faces with the same stony face s before, except this one was calculating and not as cold somehow.

"You two made the bombs," he said motioning slightly to the twins, then the Knight turned his head slightly to me, "and you told them to do it, am I right" He said in his scratchy voice, staring into my eyes, looking for any hint of a lie. I knew there was no point in lying to this man who stood in front of me, my shoulders sagged slightly, knowing that I was caught and the Knight though I was immature. Damn it!

"Yes" we said in unison, all of us were unable to look at the Knight in the eyes all slightly embarrassed about being caught.

"I want you to know, that even though it was wrong to do that to guests in your house, in battle that would be a very effective trap" The Knight said and we all flicked our heads to look up at him, then turned to each other and wondered 'He was supposed to punish us and yell at us, not suggest it as a battle strategy'. The Knight headed off in the direction that the others had just went in. We looked at each other and then the bombs and then back, but something must have caught their eyes because all of a sudden I heard...

"oh no no no, no he can't do this, not at this range, we can't drop it either, he's good NO!" and there was a split second of silence before I realised way too late what had happened, saw the string leading toward the Knight and saw the Knight turning around and I swear I saw the glint of mischief in his eyes as he stepped out of the danger zone and pulled the string.

BOOM! "Oh GOD! That stinks! _What_ did you put in there Gazzy, rotten eggs and a couple of your farts?!" Iggy yelled.

"What are you talking about? What type of paint did you use, toxic waste ah the chemical fumes are burning my nose hair!" Gazzy yelled back and pretended to claw his face melodramatically.

"AH I'm a rainbow, I'm a freaking _rainbow_! WHY?" I yelled over the top of their voices, I was beyond pissed, I like black, not pink or green or purple or silver, _black!_ And now I was a stinky rainbow…. Oh and the rest of the group had shown up and were not even trying to hold their laughter. Well this plan back fired, the Knight just walked to stand beside them continuously on the lookout for any signs of trouble. I didn't miss the hint of laughter in his eyes though when his gaze drifted over us as we just stood there in shock.

"I can't believe he pranked us with our own prank… Is that even possible? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?" Iggy yelled incredulously, looking from the Knight, to his clothes and back, as if all the secrets would be revealed if he looked between the two fast enough. As for Gazzy, he thought it was brilliant, he laughed and seemed to look at the Knight like he was a God or something. And me? I just stood there staring at the laughing group of Royals in wonder. I mean you would too if you saw your mother and father, who had by now completely mastered the art of faking a polite smile, laughing out loud, the full on kind of laugh. The Twins and I never got that reaction, but I guess that's because we always annoyed people with it, and nobody could trick us, but now the Knight had, completely trashed that reputation. I was mad, but also kind of impressed. The Knight had lived up to an impossible standard, pranking all three of us master prankers at once and everyone was watching, not only that but he had pranked us with our own prank. I'm not quite sure how he had been able to do that without knowing us for a while, not even Nudge and Ella knew the signs of a prank.

"Well that was funny man, you did get us good! You my friend need to teach me how to do that" Iggy said going to slap the Knight on his shoulder. The Knight though didn't seem to want that as he stepped out of the way and glared at Iggy's out stretched hand and said in a quiet voice.

"No. We are not friends and I will not teach you anything willingly until you have earned my trust or respect" Iggy just nodded his head and scampered back behind Ella, who turned a light shade of pink. "Iggy is never going to let himself be alone in a room with the meany ever" He whispered to no one in particular. The Knight seemed to want to say something then held himself back… 'I wonder what he wanted to say' I thought, but Queen Valencia interrupted me.

"Well I for one am glad you are safe, but I see you are a little worse for wear so if you could be so kind King and Queen of Midnight, would you let my servants get cleaned up before they explain what happened to them after we escaped?" she asked turning towards my parents, who immediately agreed and with that they rest of us walked to the dining room while the servants were lead off to get cleaned up.

"Um, I think you three need to get cleaned up as well. Maybe just to take the edge off the smell and get that paint off of you, we don't want anyone to think that this is how our kingdom is run. Oh and Fang, you should wear colour more often, pink really brings out your eyes" She said and giggled with Valencia then walked to the dining room, motioning for the other _clean_ people to follow them.

"Ugh, this stink will never come out of my clothes… Gazzy why did you make it _this _bad" Iggy said, and then turned an alarming shade of red, which stood out even more on his pale skin. "_What is ELLA going to say about this!? SHE HAS TO WASH MY CLOTHES! _She'll never like me now… Urg why did I agree to this again? I hate this" He said staring at the ground angrily.

"Yeah…" I said with a slight sigh, we were never going to hear the end of this from the servants of the palace, but hey, at least I didn't have any personal servants that I was crushing on, but I'm pretty sure that I would most likely be the one crushed on… Just sayin' *insert cocky smirk here*.

"Iggy, Fang…you know that we probably won't be able to call ourselves the master prankers anymore… Nobody will be able to take our threats to prank them seriously anymore! People are never going to let us forget about this. I don't think the Knight will respect us any more… This was the worst prank idea ever" He looked so disappointed , and I couldn't stop myself from patting him on the shoulder and letting the corner of my mouth in an encouraging smile, well encouraging for me anyway. We all walked into our an suites and rid ourselves as best we could of the paint and smell, although the paint stained our clothes and skin and the smell was only slightly less gross and obvious. I let my emotional shield slide and let the frown of self-disappointment fall on my features, my shock, and my grudging respectful look for what the Knight did, and how he still managed to have a little fun while still managing to be completely alert and keeping those he was charged with, safe, that was how I wanted to be when I became King, respected and trusted, able to keep the kingdom safe, but still make things enjoyable for the subjects… and myself of course! I waited for Iggy and Gazzy to join me before we walked into the dining room. Everyone was talking thought so I looked at Gazzy and Iggy, signalling for them to get everyone's attention. Gazzy did that pretty effectively by using his…. Special talent….

"AAAAAAh what hell is that? ZOMG I'm going to die, but I'm too young to die, and I haven't tried on all of the clothes and shoes I wanted to and I haven't even talked to the new people yet. Who did this, whoever did I'm going to make them wish they were never born. I haven't seen every shade of pink yet! But I did see this pair of pink diamond studded shmuphmurgph!" I'll give you one guess to who that was…. If you said the Knight! You'd be wrong… He was the one who had crept up on NUDGE! (Duh of course it was her) to cover her mouth and saved us all from the rest of her rant.

"Thanks for that Knight, you have no idea how long that would have gone on for!" My mother exclaimed forgetting about social etiquette and raised her voice. Huh that was new.

"I think I have a rough estimate… I was just interrogated by her while you were discussing the fact that you need a new teacher for one of your sons…" The Knight said quietly… so he does talk, but not voluntarily apparently.

"Oh I hope your ears are okay…. But speaking of training, yes you heard right, we are looking for a new instructor for Nicholas," "_Fang"_ "sorry for _Fang,_ and unfortunately as well as our army, they are both lacking an instructor after they have given up on training them. Both Fang and the army can be difficult to train," 'I am so not difficult' I thought as mum said this 'what's so difficult about being late to classes and beating my teacher with my own techniques, not the ones I was taught, and then walking out early and eating unhealthily. I figured with my high metabolism it would be okay… "So will you?" Oops I guess I missed their whole conversation with my internal monologue; jeez I have been around Nudge far too long.

"If my Queen allows it then yes, but I can only stay as long as she does, my duty to her comes first." The Knight said before he turned to Queen Valencia with a questioning gaze. The queen seemed to think about the proposition for a second, weighed the pros and cons of the situation and then responded.

"I will allow the Knight to stay here, only if I can stay as well, he is my most trusted body guard and I don't feel safe without him present. If you have any objections to this then I will not allow him to train your troops, is this acceptable?" She said, suddenly all business which slightly shocked everyone I the room, except of course Queen Valencia's maids, they must have gotten used to it by then.

"Yes of course, we'd be delighted if you could all stay with us, if you don't mind if your maids help with odd jobs around the place, then I am sure everything will be great!" My mother said clearly excited. It was then that the situation hit me. I was going to be trained by the Knight, best fighter in all of the land and the person whom we had tried to prank; we were going to pay dearly for that.

"I would like to have a demonstration first; I need to know exactly what I am going to work with here." The Knight said looking to my father, knowing he was the one who would have the say so in that matter.

"Yes, of course, but keep in mind that they haven't had an training instructor in a while" Dad said, and then he signaled one of our servants over to him. "Can you inform our troops that they are going to be giving a demonstration tomorrow at noon? Tell them that I want them to show their horse riding skills and their fighting hand to hand and with weapons, as well as their athletic skills. Have you got that?" the servant nodded and went off to find the captain of our troops and deliver the message.

"Will all of your sons be training with me?" The Knight asked my mother, and she just nodded and smirked. Oh no!


	4. an

HEY guys HO0T here!

Um i know i haven't posted for a while and i'm sorry! so please stop sharpening your pitchforks!

But I have another story idea that i'm going to be writing as well as Knight Girl, i'm calling it Fang's Crazy Paradise.

It's inspired by Tokyo Crazy Paradise ( i just started reading the manga and thought it was a cool idea).

There will be obvious differences from the manga in my story so I wont just be inserting Max and the Gang into roles and keeping the story line the same!

Oh and be on the look out for a new chapter! I am currently writing now but i thought that you would appreciate the update.

Well i hope you end up liking my new idea, constructive criticism is wanted!

Flying High,

HO0T HO0T!


	5. Chapter 5 What took you so long anyway?

**_AN: _**Hey guys sorry it took so long! I was swamped with assessments and getting everything done, and then I had my sleep to catch up on and hanging out with friends on the holidays so yeah I am back with a new chapter! Please review!

**_Disclaimer: _** Again I do not own Maximum Ride characters, only the plot…. And any OC's I choose to add!

**Me: **Fang give me back my cookie!

**Fang: **Never! *flies off*

**Me: **It's times like these when I wish that I had wings…

**Warning contains fight scene sort of graphic I think don't read if you don't like violence **

**_LAST TIME:_**

_"__Will all of your sons be training with me?" The Knight asked my mother, and she just nodded and smirked. Oh no!_

**Max's POV**

This will be good! I'll be able to train those snobby, full of themselves, spoilt brats of princes and teach them how to act properly and give them a taste of their own medicine. I was silently plotting multiple ways of making their days of training horrible when the maid named Nudge piped up.

"Um, excuse me, Mr Knight?" I turned around to face her, as did everyone else. "Well I was just wondering, what took you so long anyway? I mean I know the basic details, a group of bandits attacked you, but how did you manage to escape and all of you look fine!" This comment caused murmurs to flow throughout the room and people stare at me expectantly, damn I had hoped that they had forgotten about that. Oh God I hate attention. I mean don't get me wrong, being the best fighter in the land, even if everyone thinks I'm a guy, is great but I don't like a hundred pairs of eyes all of sudden focus on me and have to talk for them? Yeah no, so I decided to let Angel have the spotlight. I nodded in her direction, hoping that she would understand, and of course she did, I swear she's a mind reader sometimes **(A.N. I couldn't help it! XD)**

"Well, we were in the carriage sitting down, just after we stopped for a quick break; and I heard the driver call out to the horse to start off"

**_"_****_FLASHBACK"_**

**_Max's POV still (Angel is telling the story but Max is imagining)_**

_I noticed the trees thickening ahead of us, and I was immediately on high alert. I gripped Blaze's main and swung up onto him, he sensed my urgency and stayed still and did exactly what I told him to. I rode up next to each of the drivers separately and said._

_"__Hey, I think somebody's watching us, be on the lookout, if I see anything I want you to alert the Ladies inside and tell them to remain silent, okay, Don't ride away, there will be a chance that they have an ambush waiting for us up head I need to protect everyone. Kingdom of Midnight is said to be bandit country so keep your eyes facing forward" They did and everything was going well, then we heard a battle cry from up ahead. Oh no!_

_This was going to be difficult, okay what to do what to do, shit shit THINK MAX! I yell internally. Fortunately Lady Luck decided to smile upon me or the other but the bandits decided to all gather behind us with the exception of a couple out the front. I knew what I had to do then; it took a second for me to grab my bow and an arrow from my quiver and notch two arrows into it and fire straight at their chest forcing them to stumble backwards from the force. I heard them collapse as I turned Blaze around and slapped the Royal carriage horses with the end of my bow, causing them to rear a bit and charge off._

_"__Don't stop, get them to the palace, we'll be fine here!" I yelled, making sure that I kept my male voice on. I didn't get a reply except for the flick of the reins and a called for the horses to go faster. I nodded and turned back to the other eight, who seemed to be frozen in shock, good thing too because it allowed me to asses them._

_They were all quite large, muscled and tall and all brought their swords out swinging wildly. Even though they were heavily armed, I could tell by the way they walked and handled their weapons that they were all brawn and no brain, just like the other two. They wore baggy ripped pants and ripped shirts and or vests but it looked like they were good quality. That meant that these guys were good, but not as good as me because they had already made multiple mistakes._

_Mistake #1: they wore baggy clothes that offered little protection from anything._

_Mistake #2: They had given away their weapon of choice, by drawing their swords they showed that they all knew that and had no diversity in their attacks._

_Mistake #3: They all stood together, all in a neat little line that left them wide open and gave me every chance to escape from thrown objects instead of crowding me, limiting me to my short range weapons._

_I reached around and loaded my bow with four arrows, picking off the four bandits closest to the servant's carriage, they grabbed the arrow with a look of shock on their faces and collapsed blood blossoming on the ground around them. The driver and jumped off and was currently leading the horses slowly away while I had the bandits distracted. The other still living bandits saw that their friends had been killed by my hand and had forgotten about the servants and came charging at my, swords waving high in the air. I moved into a fighting stand and readied my bow again, I knew that I would had the time to fire off multiple arrows so I fired two more in quick succession, you know one after the other, and hit the two that were the fastest. I know cowards move going for the best first but I had other people's lives to think about here._

_The last two didn't spare a second glance to their newly dead friends, or not friends, and closed in the last few meters. I threw my bow behind me, hopefully far enough away that the two bumbling idiots wouldn't step on it, and ripped my twin long swords form their scabbards on my waist and parried their blows. I was right when I said they were strong, their blows strained my arm muscles so I threw up my arms and spun from their reached, I leaped and summersaulted over them and stabbed them through the heart as they turned, not waiting for them to register what happened._

_I stepped back as they fell off my blades, I wiped the blood off on my sleeve before sheathing them and jogging over to pick up my bow. I looked around and saw the carriage had gotten to the edge of the clearing and had stopped. I wondered why but then I saw Angel burst through the doors of the carriage and start running towards me, I quickly dropped my bow again and opened my arms as she flung herself at me. _

_"__Never do that again! I don't care how good you are, you scare me whenever you do that" She said quickly as she buried her face into my shoulder. I just crouched down and hugged her too me before lifting her with one arm and grabbing my bow with the other and started walking towards the carriage. I lifted her up into the carriage and the other girls crowded around Angel and started to thank me and praise me all at once. I nodded and slightly shrugged my shoulders and closed the door on them slowly. I walked over to Blaze who had been standing by the edge of the clearing watching me closely. He walked over to me and shoved his muzzle into my and I rubbed up it and scratched between his eyes. _

_"__Whoa there boy, easy I'm fine, look not even a scratch" I said and took a step back so he could check. Blaze seemed to nod his head confirming that what I said was true. I gave him one more scratch before I grabbed his main and hoisted myself up onto the saddle and adjusted my bow before nudging Blaze forward. He trotted off towards the carriage and I nodded to the driver who had checked on the girls and was climbing into his seat. I quickly made Blaze circle the carriage as I peered at the surrounding forest, making sure that there would be no surprises. Once I was satisfied I gave the driver a nod giving him the okay to head off._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_I sat rigidly on blaze as we came up the walls that surrounded the town of the Kingdom of Midnight I looked a little dirty from the fight, and as we rode through the gates, I started to wonder if I should have dusted myself off a little. I didn't know if Val would appreciate it if I showed up all dusty to the Kingdom of Midnight, where the Queen just happened to be my mother's best friend. Well this sucked! I'll probably get a good lecture about how appearance is important and how I should take care of myself better and I shouldn't have left her, that wasn't proper ya-da ya da ya-da. I sometimes get sick of her nagging for me to be a proper person. I mean it's not like everyone knows I'm a girl right? Men can act like this all of the time, but since mum knows I'm a girl, she wants me to act as properly as I can. Don't get me started on the times when I'm a maid! *shudder of horror*_

_After my little internal rant, I realised that we reached the castle gates, you know the ones that separate the palace form the town yeah, and with that, I had to call up the tower guards to let us in._

_"__Excuse me, we are the servants of the Queen of the Kingdom of Darkness, let us through" I hate yelling in my "male voice" it always made my voice raspy and hurt my throat afterwards. But I guess the gate guards recognised that what I was saying was important because the gates were opened quickly and stable hands guided us through to the front of the palace. I handed Blaze over to the smallest stable hand, he looked about 12 years old, but I knew that Blaze didn't like to be handled by any adults, bad experience with mistreatment. I watched them until the turned they were out of my line of vision, just to make sure that nothing happened, and then I walked calmly up the stairs and situated myself into the middle of the group, make sure that I was as close to every girl as I could be. With that we reached the top of the staircase and the massive doors opened and with a little silent encouragement from me, the girls walked through the doors hesitantly and prepared to greet the Royals of the Kingdom of Midnight._

_"__END FLASHBACK"_

"So that's what happened" Angle said which seemed to wake me up from my trance. I stood alert once more and observed the faces of everybody; they all seemed to be reacting similarly to me, although a lot more obviously though, to Angel's trance inducing voice. The face though that had me averting my eyes was my mother's. She looked worried and pissed off at the same time. OOPS! Ah well she can lecture me later about personal safety later, right now, I was hungry and wanted to scope out the palace grounds, find escape routes, you know all that stuff that a body guard should be doing.

I decided that now would be the opportune time and I began to walk over to my mother. Well that was what I had planned to do, but it turns out that Gazzy and Iggy had other plans.

"Excuse me, Knight?" Gazzy asked a little hesitantly I nodded to indicate that he could continue, "How did you do that? I mean 10 heavily armed men fighting you! I know I can fight at least five guards with only swords, well that only barely at that." He said with a hint of bitterness? I think it was embarrassment but I why..? Hmm oh well better answer the question.

Iggy butted in with his own question "Who was your master? How long did it take you before you stopped needing a master to teach you?"

"I trained hard all my life and had lots of time too, I didn't have to learn how to be a prince at the same time" "And for your question Iggy, I can't say the name of my masters but I did train with quite a few people while I was completing my training. And for not needing a master, I can't really give you and exact time; I sort of just stopped learning from them, not that they couldn't teach me more I just decided that I wanted to learn on my own." I said trying to be nicer than I was to them before by giving them a very technical answer _(I mean I didn't have to learn how to be a _prince_, but I learned how to be a princess, well the basic rules anyway)._ I guess it was working because the next thing I know, both Gazzy and Iggy are grinning at me before they race off towards Fang.

I watched them for a second before turning back towards my mother who had started to walk towards me while I was distracted, well momentarily detained from my original course, yeah something like that, but definitely not distracted. Ehem anyway…

"Knight! I need to talk to you for a moment." My mother said as she made eye contact with me. Well that was easy.

"Of course, your Majesty" I said while I inclined my head slightly, gotta keep the image up right?

We walk out of the dining hall and onto the adjoining balcony and close the doors to make sure that our conversation remains a secret.

"Your majesty, before you say anything, I need to go and scout out escape routes and safe places to hide if under attack." I said turning to her with a serious look on my face, she just sighed and then started speaking with a surprisingly soft voice.

"Max, please be careful. You know I hate it when you get in any danger! You should have taken off with us, you should have made the group stay together we could have out run them. The Midnight guards would have helped us, without forcing you into any danger. I am your Queen, but I am also your mother and I want you to stop putting yourself in danger when there are those who can help you and take the dangers sole focus off of you!"

She turned around to face me, but I just couldn't look at her. I was getting far too angry.

"Your Majesty, Mum, it is my duty to protect those in danger _that_ is why I trained so hard in the mountains, _that_ is why I continue to put myself in danger. I wanted to show you that I could do that, me your_ daughter,_ a _girl_. I wanted you to see what I could do, I wanted you to not see me a strong fierce girl, well I did but I also wanted you to see that I could equal or even best any man! I wanted to prove to myself that it is not impossible for a female to make it in the world of men, that I didn't have to spend my life listening to a man, being ordered around because I am a girl. I also became a maid to show that I can be feminine, that if I wanted too I could be the daughter you always wanted. I don't like how you coddle me when it comes to protecting you. This seems to be the only way to repay you for protecting me, and giving me the childhood I wanted instead of the one that you wanted for me. You put aside want you wanted for me, and gave me as much as you could of what I wanted." I finished my rant breathing faster than normal. I had turned to look at my mum, right in the eyes, hoping that she would understand what I wanted to do.

"Oh Max…" She whispered, and started to tear up, "okay I know I am a little over protective, but that's because you are my daughter and I your mother, and mothers always _coddle_ their babies" She said with a slight laugh. I took that as a sign that she understood and was letting me, albeit hesitantly, do what I wanted to do.

I bowed to her lower than the usual tilt of the head, and looked up with a hidden smile "Your Majesty, it seems that our privacy is going to be compromised so I shall leave and start my scouting of the area" With that I disappeared into the shadows and made my way secretly around the castle.


End file.
